Manchester City vs. Sunderland: 10 Moments That Drove Citizens Fans to Drink

For 85 minutes, Manchester City looked utterly impotent against Sunderland on Saturday. Meanwhile, Martin O'Neill's team attacked fluidly and scored three wonderful goals (a brace from Sebastian Larsson and one from Nicklas Bendtner).

Mario Balotelli's first half penalty conversion looked inconsequential until Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov salvaged a single point for City with a pair of goals in the last few minutes. But despite avoiding the worst, no one will pretend that the 3-3 draw was a good result for Roberto Mancini's title-chasing side.

The dropped points give Manchester United the opportunity to go give points clear at the top of the table with a win against Blackburn on Monday.

Those are the highlights, but we're going deeper. These are the 10 moments when an inch this way or an inch that way could have kept Manchester City from dropping even further off the pace quickly being set by Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils.

Vincent Kompany Flubs It

David Silva played a corner kick quickly in the 19th minute. The ball came right back to Silva as he pushed in from the left. He danced around a Sunderland defender and fed an unmarked Vincent Kompany 12 yards from goal.

Kompany looked to strike the ball first time on goal, but instead mishit it and watched the weak roller leak harmlessly across goal to be cleared by the Sunderland defense.

Mario Balotelli Gets in the Way

Another corner just eight minutes later. As the ball swung in, Mario Balotelli retreated from his starting position in front of the keeper to reach it. As he fell away from goal, Balotelli headed high over the crossbar.

Even more unfortunate than the misdirected header is the fact that City forward Edin Dzeko was running free onto the ball just a foot behind Balotelli. A simple shot could have seen the much better positioned Dzeko push City into the early lead.

Sunderland Strikes First

In the 31st minute, Sunderland played a quick free kick down the left. Stephane Sessegnon cut inside and weaved through three City defenders before finding Sebastian Larsson with the square ball at the top of the area.

Larsson took his time in a ton of space and passed the ball firmly into the bottom corner of City keeper Joe Hart's net.

It's a bad start for the home fans, but they would have still been comforted by the fact that City had yet to drop points at the Etihad this season. It would get much, much worse.

Mario Balotelli Goes Down in the Box

As half-time approached, a cross came flying in from the right side for City. Mario Balotelli turned to pursue it and was body checked in the area by his defender.

The penalty shout went up as did Balotelli's hands, but referee Phil Dowd wasn't interested. A better cross would undoubtedly have made the case stronger.

Stephane Sessegnon Sets Up a Second for the Visitors

In first half added time, Sunderland played down the right to Stephane Sessegnon. As with the rest of the game, no City player could keep Sessegnon from doing whatever he wanted. The Benin international picked his target and unleashed a cross to the back post.

Micah Richards tried to rise and clear it, but Nicklas Bendtner rose higher. Bendtner directed his header back across goal and gave Joe Hart no chance to make the save.

Going into the locker room down 2-1 with few signs of life from their team undoubtedly led a few City fans to order an extra round during the break.

Seb Larsson Gets Another

Ten minutes into the second half and a long through ball from the rampant Stephane Sessegnon set Nicklas Bendtner free down the right side.

Bendtner drove at the near post as Sebastian Larsson pulled away to the far. Kolo Toure retreated to cover Larsson, but didn't make it quite far enough.

Bendtner's pass across goal just eluded the Ivorian defender and found Larsson five yards out for the easy tap in.

Kolo Toure Wastes a Chance

If you're getting a sense that Manchester City wasted a lot of good chances off corners, then you're right. And we're not done yet.

Just a few minutes after Sunderland took the 3-1 lead, a City corner dropped to an unmarked Kolo Toure in the center of goal. Toure leaned into his header and sent it skyward.

For those who like alcohol more than football, wasted corners would make a good drinking game if you're watching a replay of this match.

Mario Balotelli Blows His Top

If you can't beat the other team, you might as well beat up on your teammates. At least that seemed to be Mario Balotelli's take on things as the match entered its final half hour.

Balotelli was of the opinion that Aleksandar Kolarov's previous three ineffectual free kicks were plenty and that it was time to share the wealth. Kolarov disagreed and placed the ball for yet another left-footed blast.

Balotelli continued the argument and the two exchanged a quick push and curse. As the boos rained down from the home crowd, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany stepped in to separate their teammates.

Kolarov sent the kick high and wide and Balotelli trotted back down the field thinking, "I told you so."

Aleksandar Kolarov Ignores Everyone

We'd reached the 83rd minute with little indication that City had any interest in staging a comeback. Aleksandar Kolarov lined up another free kick from a sharp angle out on the right side.

City players streamed into the box for a chance at the inevitable cross. Inevitable to everyone that is, except Kolarov.

The Serbian ignored his teammates, sizzled another shot off target and had to watch as Mario Balotelli threw his hands up in disgust at the back post.

The Last Chance Falls to the Wrong Guy

Mario Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov had settled their differences and decided that each of them would score a goal in the last few minutes. The game was tied 3-3.

Another City corner kick (they had 17 in total). This one played to an unmarked Kolo Toure's feet. Toure tried to fire it first time in on the Sunderland goal, but he shanked it weakly and City's final good chance didn't even make it through the traffic of defenders.

The Citizens who left the stadium early might have missed a couple goals, but at least they got an early start on that special bottle they might have saved to soothe the pain of watching a championship slip further away.